Only 29 per cent of techies plan to stay in current job
- Reference: 1646818208
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/03/09/gartner_only_29pc_of_it/
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Younger techies are even less likely to stick around than their older counterparts, according to the survey of 18,000 employees conducted in the final three months of 2021 – with 1,755 of the respondents working in IT. The study found only 16 per cent of IT workers aged between 19 and 29 plan to stay put, versus 48 per cent for the 50- to 70-year-old bracket.
IT workers in Europe were most likely to remain loyal, at 40 per cent, while 28 per cent of those in the US said they weren't planning to move on. Australia and New Zealand had the most fleetfooted IT workforce: only 18 per cent were inteding to stay with their current employer.
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Graham Waller, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, said there was a bidding war for the most in-demand IT talent.
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"IT professionals who have in-demand skills in data science, cloud, product or agile development, they can almost be like top athletes in the way clubs compete for top footballers [soccer players]," he said.
"Sometimes giant tech companies, such as Google, Amazon and Facebook are willing to pay significantly higher salaries than other firms to get some of this top talent. Compensation remains a big driver," he said.
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But for those without such deep pockets, there were other ways to attract and retain IT staff, Waller said.
Gartner found that 65 per cent of IT employees say whether they can work flexibly will impact their decision to stay or go.
For those in Europe, work-life balance trumped compensation in IT workers' decision making. Globally, it is now equal to compensation for the first time in a decade, Gartner found.
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"We've heard of IT organisations implementing back-to-the-office policies only to face mass resignations and have to reverse course. CIOs may need to advocate for more flexibility in work design than the rest of the organisation, as IT employees are more likely to leave," Waller said.
This means having tough conversations with HR and other decisions-makers on company policy, to ensure they understand the exceptional drivers in the IT workforce, he said.
If an organisation mandates working in the office for a set three days per week, IT would have to collate data on how many people are leaving due to this factor and how difficult they are to replace.
"CIOs with that data can make the case that they need an exemption even if the initial policy was one size fits all across the enterprise. We are seeing that 2022 is a year of organizations experimenting with these models," he said.
[6]Food for thought on the return to the office
[7]Microsoft: Cloud and Windows OEM sales up, but Surface? No, not even during WFH boom
[8]Global pandemic was good for business, say UK infosec pros – but we're still burning out
[9]Google staff who work from home might see pay cut under corporate policy – reports
[10]Great reset? More like Fake Reset: Leaders need a reality check if they think their best staff will give up hybrid work
The IT industry has seen a varied response to returning to the office following the pandemic. Workday [11]CEO Aneel Bhusri said that he was "a big believer that we're going to be back in the office." The company has [12]since invested in $172.5 million in office space .
On the other hand, Salesforce, San Francisco's largest employer, [13]cancelled the lease on an unbuilt 325,000 square foot (30,193sqm) tower .
Last year, Brent Hyder, Salesforce president and chief people officer, [14]said that "the employee experience is about more than ping-pong tables and snacks" as he announced an end to the assumption that most staff would work from the office, and introduced a flexible working plan. ®
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/18/something_for_the_weekend/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/27/microsoft_fy2022_q1/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/08/ciisec_state_uk_infosec_report/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/11/google_home_workers_pay_cut_reports/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/28/the_fake_reset/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/18/workday_ceo_says_oracle_way/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/24/workday_building_purchases/
[13] https://www.michigansthumb.com/bayarea/article/salesforce-cancels-office-lease-san-francisco-16015817.php
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/10/salesforce_wfh/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
That 29% will rocket if we hit a recession.
There are also plenty of serial moaners in those planning to leave.
Amen to that. Managers are a force multiplier and working from home has massively inflated points 2-4. I'm fortunate in that most of my colleagues just try to do their best, but the pandemic highlighted how the title of "manager" has become a mere corporate accolade, and the vast majority fell flat on their face when clarity and leadership was required to maintain team cohesion and the needs of a rapidly changing infrastructure. Technology roadmaps and project management have devolved to the point where Dilbert is no longer satirical.
I'm thinking about a lot more than this
After 12 years and now in my mid-30s, I am actually thinking about leaving the IT industry altogether and just changing career. It's not fulfilling for me anymore and I have totally lost patience with 'techie' stuff and things just going wrong. I look at a whole swathe of other roles seeing very few that truly light my fire. Even those that do appeal would be hugely competitive (hundreds of applicants sometimes) and would require huge amounts of additional learning on top of my day job.
The IT industry does seem to have a 'crabs in a bucket' mentality to it. Every time someone says they've had enough and wants to do something else, they are just told to "try this new area" or "have you tried changing employer", "I went through this, did that and now doing awesome" and suchlike. Being completely fed up of the whole show is apparently unacceptable and not an option.
Being on Teams listening to disembodied voices of people you would normally sit and spend the whole day with? That's draining. That's not a 'team'.
I would also agree with every single point the initial AC made. The culture in my team has changed over the past 2-3 years, particularly in that our seniors are completely invisible unless someone needs to be b*llocked about something. Also, the strategy is ill-defined and seems to be based on our Director's whim, while there is also little real leadership and management is based on stick.
It's not just work-life balance though - it is more....
If you a predominantly or wholly a WFHer, it becomes very obvious, very quickly if the role you are doing is not fulfilling you. This is quickly apparent when you have the following....
1. You work with fuckwits
2. Management are fuckwits.
3. Lack of roadmap is laid bare
4. Project management (or rather, lack of) is barer than a nudist colony